Family friend Laura Stamberg, of New Paltz, N.Y., said that on the day of the shooting, Daniel’s father Mark spent precious moments with him, teaching him a Christmas song on the piano.

"They played foosball and then he taught him the song and then he walked him to the bus and that was their last morning together," Stamberg told the Associated Press.

At a funeral where mourners wore buttons with her picture, 6-year-old redhead Charlotte was recalled as a ball of energy who loved the color pink and wanted to be a veterinarian. Caroline was “just a doll,” was just a doll," family friend Pam Fehrs said. "She was happy – dancing and happy everywhere she went."

Later on Wednesday, hundreds attended a wake in Woodbury, Conn., for Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, who also has been hailed as a hero for running toward the sound of gunfire after Lanza blasted his way into the school.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman came to pay their respects at Munson Lovetere Funeral Home, where candles in paper bags, arranged to spell HOPE, were laid out on the front lawn.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan also attended. Earlier in the day, he said Hochsprung and five other staffers killed at Sandy Hook “made the ultimate sacrifice, literally laying down their lives to protect the children they taught and cared for.”

“If it was not for the quick and courageous response of other teachers and staff, even more children and adults might have died,” he said.

Some of the services have been marked not just by tears, but by calls for tougher gun laws. Miguel Padilla, who works with Soto’s father, said he hoped the unity shown in the wake of the tragedy would translate into legislative action.

“With assault rifles, there is no need for those,” he said outside the church. “If you need to protect yourself, a handgun is good enough. That a 20-year old can get his hands on [an assault rifle] is pathetic.

“Something big has to come out of this,” he added. “They have to change the law.”

NBC News' Courtney Hazlett contributed to this report.

As funerals are held for four more Sandy Hook Elementary victims, President Obama will announce that Vice President Biden will spearhead a panel to formulate gun policies in the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy. NBC's Craig Melvin reports.